I do so like green eggs and ham! Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-am!  –Dr. Seuss

Photographer: Brian Ziegler

Unlike Sam-I-Am, I do not like eggs and ham. So you can imagine how I feel about the green version.

I do, however, love cured ham or most other products that come from the pig. In recent years, I’ve also warmed to eggs if cooked in an interesting way. So that’s my inspiration here – make a dish that I would eat. If I can enjoy it, so will you.

So I have two ideas: one a beautiful dish comprising a soft-boiled egg with spinach purée and bacon. You eat the dish by breaking the egg and stirring it in with the spinach purée and, boom, green eggs and ham.

The other is quite literally green eggs. I make a spinach sabayon and put it inside prosciutto cups. Great for an amuse bouche or canapé for a dinner party. Don’t take it too seriously – have a laugh at the whimsical nature of it.

 

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GREEN EGGS AND HAM APPETIZER

Servings 4
Author Eric

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 450 g spinach
  • 270 g slab bacon
  • 300 g chicken bouillon
  • 60 g butter , 50g for the bacon bouillon and 10g for the spinach purée
  • Salt
  • Cayenne pepper

Instructions

METHOD FOR EGGS

  1. Boil the eggs for 4 minutes.

  2. Run under cold water and peel immediately, return to the water briefly to reheat. It’s easy to overcook the eggs during this process. You can use a cake tester to check that the egg yolks are still runny. They shouldn’t take longer than 3 minutes to reheat.

METHOD FOR BACON BOUILLON

  1. Preheat oven to 220°C.
  2. Roast the bacon until the fat is rendered and a golden brown.

  3. Cut 16 bacon lardons* (or about 240g) from the slab bacon for the garnish. You should use the best pieces in the center of the slab as the rest is solely a flavoring agent.

  4. Use the remaining bacon, (about 30g) and add to 300g of chicken bouillon. Simmer for 15 minutes.

  5. Remove from heat, cover with plastic wrap and allow to infuse for 15 minutes.
  6. Strain.
  7. Heat and mount with the 50g of butter before you plate. Be careful not to get the broth too hot as the butter will break and slowly add your butter while whisking.

METHOD FOR SPINACH PURÉE

  1. Blanch spinach for 5 minutes.
  2. Shock.
  3. Drain and blend.
  4. Heat to order and season with cayenne, 10g butter and salt.
  5. The desired consistency should be thin enough to be smooth and thick enough to hold its form and hold the egg.

Recipe Notes

*Lardons are what the French refer to a small, uniform rectangular cuts of bacon. The perfect lardon for this dish (and in general) is the size of a pinky finger from the last joint to the end of the nail. This obviously varies a bit, but I prefer to make them slightly larger. Luckily, I have some fat pinkies so it’s justified.

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GREEN EGG AND HAM AMUSE BOUCHE

In this recipe we are making a sabayon, which is extremely delicate. If not added and cooked correctly, the eggs in the sabayon can break or scramble, which are both equally undesirable results!
Servings 12
Author Eric

Ingredients

  • 8 egg yolks
  • 80 g water
  • 10 g spinach purée
  • 140 g clarified butter
  • 225 g prosciutto

Instructions

METHOD

  1. Combine the egg yolks and water in a bowl over a pot of gently boiling water. If the water is boiling too violently the eggs can overcook very quickly.
  2. Whisk the egg yolks constantly until the desired consistency is reached. The eggs should hold the figure 8 when made with a whisk. This isn’t immediate, and you will gradually see the eggs change in consistency as you whisk.
  3. Remove from heat and slowly drizzle in the clarified butter while whisking constantly. Make sure that your butter is warm but not too hot, being too hot will break your sabayon.
  4. Season with salt and cayenne; whisk in the spinach purée and strain or pass through a fine chinois.
  5. Simultaneously place the prosciutto into tart moulds and bake at 160°C for 10 minutes or until crispy.

  6. Let cool to slightly above room temperature and fill with the spinach sabayon.*

Recipe Notes

*If the prosciutto is too hot the sabayon will break.